


While We're Young

by Azure (Fancy_Ravenclaw)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, F/M, M/M, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 15:24:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13461069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fancy_Ravenclaw/pseuds/Azure
Summary: Phil's mum decides it's about time he gets social, so she drags him along to her book club. Turns out, the host is also making her teenage son sit in on the meeting, and he just happens to be the most gorgeous guy Phil's ever seen.





	While We're Young

**Author's Note:**

> This story was based off a prompt! If you have something you'd like me to write, leave a comment or send me a message on [my Tumblr](http://daniactuallysnuffledthatpopcorn.tumblr.com).

In late autumn Phil’s mother started voicing her concerns about his social life which, admittedly, was becoming less than non-existent. He hadn’t seen his best friend Felix in a few months when she first spoke up, and his girlfriend had been ghosting him for three days straight. So okay, maybe he had a problem.

In mid-December she gave him two options: either hang out with someone, or come to book club with her. The choice seemed simple enough, but after texting every single person in his social circle (four people, total) and getting no reply, he was starting to get desperate. His mum’s deadline was seven thirty that evening, as book club started at eight, and all throughout dinner he kept checking his phone to see if anyone was willing to offer themselves up to be his saviour yet. He had already abandoned all hope by twenty past seven when a text came in. He lunged at his phone, fumbling to type in his password, and read the text. It just said, “sorry love, can’t tonight”. Thanks, Louise. 

“Book club it is.” His mother exclaimed triumphantly when the clock struck the half hour.

Phil groaned loudly, but no amount of grumbling was going to save him from this. He put on his shoes while still complaining under his breath, but his mother was in too good a mood to tell him off. She handed him a book somewhere in the middle of an upbeat soliloquy and Phil caught the words, “it’s okay if you haven’t read it”. He took one look at the book in his hands and responded, “I have read it.” 

She seemed caught off guard by this, stopped speaking momentarily to look at him.

“Seriously, I have,” He continued, “I’m antisocial, but I’m not a complete barbarian.”

“You’ve- you’ve read _Everything That Rises Must Converge_? That doesn’t seem up your street.”

“It isn’t.” Phil zipped up his coat and grabbed his keys. “They made me read it in English last year.”

His mum nodded. Her flow seemed to have been disturbed and she was mostly quiet on the drive to the club, save for a few comments about traffic and the weather. 

The meeting turned out to be at the house of one of the club members, and the street was lined up with cars on both sides. 

“We’re a very popular group.” His mum beamed when she caught Phil eyeing the vehicles.

“I’m sure.” He said. He followed her to the front door and gave the woman who opened the door his friendliest smile when his mum introduced him. She was called Karen and she was tonight’s host. She stepped aside to let mother and son in, and led them to the lounge, where a bunch of middle-aged women were gathered on the sofas.

“Ladies, this is my son, Philip. He’ll be joining us today.”

“How wonderful! I wish I could get my son to read, but he’s only interested in girls these days.” One of the women piped up.

“I suppose that’s what happens when they enter their teenage years.” Another responded. There was laughter all around, and Phil gave his mum an exasperated look, silently begging her to please let him leave, but she instead motioned for him to sit down. When he sank down he realised that opposite him was someone who was most definitely not a woman in her mid-forties; that was definitely a boy. His own age. 

The boy had earphones in and was staring intently at the screen of his iPhone, not noticing the desperate glances he was receiving from Phil. The latter sighed and slumped in his seat, until his mum elbowed him to sit up straight. Great, he couldn’t even sit comfortably at this dumb book club. Karen walked out of the kitchen with a plate of muffins that she put on the coffee table, before sitting down next to the boy. “Dan, what did I tell you about those earphones?”

The boy, Dan, rolled his eyes but pulled them out and shoved his phone in the front pocket of his hoodie. 

“Alright then.” Karen sat up straight and the women around them quieted down as they waited for her to speak. “Girls, welcome to this week’s book club meeting. We are joined today by two young guests,” She smiled brightly as she said this, “Kathryn’s son Philip, and my own son Daniel.”

Dan looked up and the two boys’ eyes finally met. Brown greeted blue with a surprised smile that was quickly returned.

He was beautiful, Phil realised before telling himself off and trying to put the thought out of his head. He had a girlfriend whom he loved, probably, and with a face like that there was no way Dan didn’t have at least one lover himself. He had a dimple in one cheek, his jaw was smooth and soft, and his curly hair waved perfectly across his head. It was all Phil could do to not reach out and run his hand through it. 

The actual book club chatter went right by him without lingering long enough to take on meaning. He was lost in a game with himself, trying to look at Dan as much as he could without the other noticing. Every time the boy looked away Phil ran his eyes up and down his perfect form, his slender neck and his messy hair. Dan didn’t appear interested in the conversation either, but he seemed to be making the best of a bad situation by half-listening to what was being said. His mum tried to get him to say something once, but the boy gave her a look that screamed “are you actually serious right now” and she didn’t try again after that. Phil’s own mum didn’t even seem to realise that her son might as well have been asleep. She was debating heavily on whether one of the characters from the book represented the devil and had not glanced over to her right, where Phil sat, for at least fifteen minutes. 

The moment Karen announced that they would be taking a quick break, Dan was on his feet and out of the room. Phil hated himself for it, but he followed, thinking that if anyone asked he could always say he was looking for the bathroom. The stairs creaked and Phil just caught Dan’s socked feet disappearing around the corner. His own feet were planted on the first stair before he could stop himself, and by that time it was too late to turn around. Well, it wasn’t, but he didn’t _want _to turn around, either.__

____

____

It was dark upstairs. He had to guide himself up by holding on to the railing and almost tripped over air when he got to the top. His hands felt around for a light switch, but before he could find one, fingers closed around his upper arm and he was pulled into a room. The door closed behind him and a light was turned on. Dan was stood in front of him, miraculously looking even better up close. 

“What’s up?” The boy asked, almost casually.

“Not much man, just, hanging out, I guess.” Phil muttered.

“Yeah, sure. Enjoying the view?”

Phil could feel his cheeks going red. So maybe he hadn’t been as sneaky as he thought.

“Philip, right?”

Phil nodded.

“Is Phil good?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. Well, Phil, I have to say you’re not cut out for the life of a spy, I’m afraid.”

“It’s a good thing that’s not what I’m trying to be, anyway.”

Dan grinned, “What are you trying to be?”

“I’ll see when I get there.”

“What about downstairs. Did you have a plan with that?”

“Whatever my plan was, it didn’t involve being pulled into some random room in a strange house.”

“My plan for you did involve that.”

“Oh really? What else did it involve?” Phil found himself leaning in. His girlfriend’s image popped up in the back of his mind and a wave of guilt washed over him. He pulled back, stepping away and backing himself against the door.

It broke the magic between them. Dan moved away now, too, “Never mind,” he said, “go back downstairs.”

“I’m sorry.” Phil tried. He wanted to step closer again, but he couldn’t make himself do it.

“No worries, I think I misread the situation.”

“I don’t think you did, I think I made a mistake. Will you be here next week?”

“Well, I live here, so yeah.”

“Okay, can we pick this conversation up from when I asked you what your plan involved, next week?”

Dan gave him a careful smile, “Sure, yeah.”

“Alright.” To avoid any more awkwardness Phil turned around and opened the door. As they walked back downstairs Phil felt the urge to fix his clothes, even though Dan hadn’t even touched them.

The rest of the meeting was as boring as the first part. Maybe even worse so. Phil stopped himself from staring at Dan and instead tried to actually listen to what was being said, which was difficult as he really could not care less.

But for his plan to work he had to let his mother think that she had won, so when she asked him what he thought as they walked back to the car, he shrugged.

She smiled and poked his cheek, “You enjoyed it, didn’t you? I knew you would!”

She seemed so content that even if it hadn’t been part of his plan he would’ve still said yes just because he couldn’t bear to let her down. “Maybe. It wasn’t that bad.” 

“Do you want to come again next week?” She asked.

Bingo.

“I’ll think about it.” He said, even though he didn’t need to.

Now that the first part of his plan – getting asked to go to book club again next week- had succeeded, he had to carry out the second part, which was considerably less easy. 

Tuesday found him two blocks from his house, fumbling with his fingers as he waited for the courage to ring the doorbell to present itself. Finally, the living room curtains moved and Ella’s face appeared. His stomach clenched when he saw his girlfriend smile at him. He knew what he had to do, and although it had been a long time coming it was still unbelievably hard.

By the time the door opened he was already in tears.

Her smile faded when she saw she state of him. “Are you here to break up with me?” She asked.

He couldn’t even get the words out.

“It’s okay. I’ve been thinking about doing it myself for a while now. You’re a really great guy, but I think I need someone more outgoing and you need someone who’s more reserved and willing to stay inside and watch films with you.”

He nodded, still speechless.

“I’d like to stay friends, if that’s cool with you.”

“Yes. Definitely.” Phil finally found his words. “Like, I love you, but I don’t think I’m in love with you. I don’t know if either of us was really ready for a relationship when we got into this.”

She reached out and squeezed his shoulder, “We both need to sort ourselves out before we get someone else involved in one of our messes, I think.”

He managed to laugh as he wiped away his tears, “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, you big idiot.” 

They hugged, each holding the other tighter than they had done at any point in their relationship. Really, Phil had loved her, but he had never felt anything but comradery towards her. Nothing like what he felt for Dan, which was more lust, he thought to himself. 

Phil had been through two other breakups before, but this was by far the most amicable and pleasant one, as far as breakups went. Sure, he felt hollow and empty as he walked home, but he mostly felt relieved. Really, he and Ella hadn’t had much of a relationship for the last few months, anyway. They’d barely seen each other and neither had made much of an effort to get them back on track, both enjoying their freedom too much.

By Friday Phil was over the sadness and excited for book club that evening. He spent a little more time in front of the mirror than he’d be willing to admit, changing his outfit three times and fully considering getting back in the shower to redo his hair from scratch. Eventually he decided on a casual look. He went downstairs before he could change his mind on it, running a last hand through his hair as he entered the lounge.

His mum was already there, waiting for him. “There you are. We’re going to be late.” She said as she got up. There was no way she knew why he was really so slow, but it went well with the image he was trying to portray. 

Phil had to stop himself from continuously flipping down the sun visor and check his hair in the little mirror on the ride to the house. 

“I wonder if Karen’s son will be joining us again, what was his name?”

“Dan.” Phil leaped at the chance to talk about the person who’d been on his mind nonstop for the past week. 

“Oh yeah, he seemed like a nice lad.”

“He is.” Phil said.

“Did you speak to him?”

His mum’s eyes were trained on the road so she did not see his face turn a nice shade of red. “Kind of.”

“That’s great, honey. You should hang out with him sometime.”

Well, if this worked out he already had his mum probably very willing to drive him over. If only she knew that really, she was just helping him get lucky. 

“Yeah, maybe.” 

She parked the car by the side of the road and Phil caught himself looking at the windows on the first floor, trying to catch a glimpse of that room he’d been in the week before. 

Dan wasn’t in the lounge with the women when they walked in but Phil spotted him in the kitchen through the glass door. “I’m going to go say hi.” He told his mum before walking off. 

The boy looked up from where he was pouring wine into a mug when he heard the door. “Oh, it’s just you.”

“Just me.” Phil closed the door behind him and stepped closer.

“What are you up to over here?”

“Well,” Dan said, returning the wine bottle to a cupboard, “My mum made me sit in on her book club because she wanted me to be social or whatever, and she said it was also fine if I just hung out with you. Alone.”

A grin crept its way onto Phil’s face, “My mum made me come here for social reasons too. I’m sure she’d be thrilled if I were actually making friends.”

“Do you want some wine?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

Dan retrieved the bottle and started looking for another mug while Phil popped back into the lounge, just to quickly announce to his mother what he was going to do. Well, not really. He told her he was going upstairs with Dan to listen to some music, and when she told him “Alright, don’t make too much noise though, don’t disturb us here”, he almost laughed. 

“No worries.” He promised her.

“My mum urges us to keep our noise to a minimum.” He told Dan later as they walked up the stairs. The light in the upstairs hallway was turned on this time, so Phil could see “Dan” spelled out in colourful wooden letters on the door of the room they went into.

“What the hell did you tell her?”

“Just that we’re going to listen to some music.”

Dan laughed, “Well, I can’t promise we’ll keep it down, Mrs- what’s your last name even?”

“Lester.”

“Lester.” He let it roll off his tongue experimentally. It sounded different when he said it. Better, somehow. Phil wasn’t certain what the feeling in his stomach was, exactly, but he knew for damn sure it wasn’t something he’d tell his mum about, ever. 

“So, about last week. I’m sorry about that.”

“Yeah, what happened?”

Phil shrugged, “Doesn’t matter now. Let’s just get back to where we left off.”

“Gladly.” Dan put the mugs of wine on his desk and sank down on his bed. “So,” he started, patting the space next to him to get Phil to sit down, too, “I was thinking that while our mums hang out and talk about books or whatever, we could hang out here and, like, not talk at all.”

“Sounds excellent to me.” Phil leaned back against the wall, his eyes running over Dan’s soft form. The way his curls kept sliding into his eye and the way he’d wipe them off his face. The way his shirt rose up just a little when he sat back. The way his eyes glimmered mischievously when they met Phil’s.

Phil didn’t know what it was. Was he in love? No, probably not. Did he want to hold this boy in his arms for hours on end? Eh, maybe. Did he want to make out with him and get his hands down those jeans? Most definitely, yes. 

“I know some activities we could try that don’t involve talking.” Dan offered.

“Like what?’ Phil found himself already leaning in, and the boy in front of him was doing the same.

“Like this.” In a split-second Dan had closed the space between them and pressed their lips together. Phil hadn’t kissed anyone else but Ella in over a year, and he had never kissed a boy ever, but this felt familiar in some way. He grabbed onto Dan’s shirt and started pushing him backwards until the boy was lying down. Dan’s hands were roaming and Phil did nothing to stop them. He didn’t want to. 

Soon enough fingers started pulling at belt buckles, breaths got heavier, and skin got sweaty. 

As he waited for Dan to kick of his jeans Phil realised that he may not be in love, but at seventeen he had plenty of time left to do that at some point. For now, he was content having fun with a boy whose last name he didn’t even know, just for the sake of it.


End file.
